On June 30, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán launched a new group in the European Parliament during a meeting with former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and the leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Herbert Kickl. The three promised to attract more political parties and become European politics’ most substantial far-right group.
However, the Patriots for Europe will need MEPs from at least four other countries. The far-right camp has enough mobility, so this target is not difficult. Among the possibilities is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which was recently expelled from Marine Le Pen‘s Identity and Democracy (ID) group.
Speaking at her party’s congress in Essen, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel expressed interest in the new far-right group Patriots for Europe. Notably, Patriots for Europe includes FPÖ, which was, until yesterday, a pillar of the ID. Moreover, the Austrian far-right party was considered the mentor of extremists who took control of AfD after 2015.
The German party was expelled from the ID group after AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, Maximilian Krah, voiced support for the Nazi SS.
However, the perspective of an AfD alliance with Orbán and the others poses some questions.
The fact that German courts repeatedly condemn the AfD and some of its prominent politicians as extremists and for using nazi salutes and symbols probably doesn’t bother the Hungarian Prime Minister. However, accepting such a party, the new group violently shifts towards extremism, leading Orbán to further isolation.
Marine Le Pen led ID to the expulsion of the German party because she, an experienced politician, felt the risks a partnership with them included.
If Orbán’s new group accepts AfD, it will cut all bridges for future cooperation with Le Pen.
This could cause concurrence between the far-right groups. Also, the partnership with AfD would prevent other parties – for example, the Smer in Slovakia – from joining the “Patriots” while paving the ground for further alliances with more radical far-right groups such as Konfederacja in Poland or the Revival in Bulgaria.
AfD sought to deal with extremist groups in the European Parliament to establish a German-led far-right group.
